Yes! Hypnosis can work for weight loss!

Back around 1978 a friend and I both had about 15 pounds we wanted to lose. We started with a plan to lose 10 pounds. Our Do It Yourself (DIY) approach left us needing to lose 15.

I heard about a hypnotist in Southern Maine. He used hypnotherapy to help people quit smoking or to lose weight.

It was rather expensive – $75.00 for a 45 minute session in 1978! He normally only hypnotized patients in private sessions, but my friend and I wanted to be hypnotized together. Neither of us were willing to go if we had to go alone.

Silly, I know, but it seemed weird and scary to us and we wanted to have the security of each other.

We severely limited his ability to be effective.

As he tried to put us under his hypnotic spell, we weren’t concentrating on his words or keeping our focus on the quarter he held out.

Focus on the quarter! Concentrate on the quarter! Don’t take your eyes off the quarter!

We sat in low, beach chairs and thought about what each other was thinking. We both held back laughter from time to time.

When we walked out of his office we burst into hysterics!

We laughed about his suggestion to see ourselves lying on a beach. The sky and sea was blue, the sand was warm, the sun was shining, and we were lying on the beach tan and fit in our bikinis.

We mocked the whole experience.

He left us with a post-hypnotic suggestion to want to eat more vegetables and more lower-calorie foods.

We would not be interested in ice cream and cake and candy and cookies. We were going to cut out snacking. No more potato chips and sodas.

He had a final post-hypnotic suggestion for us. He told us we would be very calm and confident.

We left his office and went to Lum’s for pie a la mode!

My friend and I both had horses. She wanted to show her horse but admitted that the huge animal made her nervous. Her nervousness caused her to be a stiff rider and her jerky hands on the reins upset him. He frequently dumped her. After the hypnosis session she became a confident rider.

She didn’t get hypnotized to get confidence around and up on horses, but that’s what she got.

You have to trust it will work.

I saw a demonstration during which a hypnotist gave a suggestion to all the people present. He had them close their eyes and hold their arms straight out in front of them.

He said to hold their right hand palm down. They were told a balloon was tied to their right wrist. They were told the balloon was drawing that arm upwards. Their right arms raised into the air. Their left palm was held up and he told them a very heavy dictionary was placed on that hand. He told them it was very, very heavy and it was pushing their arm down.

There was a room full of people with their right arms high in the air and their left arms moving down until they rested on the table.

I saw how their bodies reacted to what their minds perceived as reality through hypnotic suggestion.

99% of successful weight management is belief. It’s believing you have the ability to practice flexible restraint. If you can create a new reality you can change your behaviors.

Hypnotism can help you create a new reality!

It’s believing that you can:

Live in a world where it’s easy to eat too much and know that you will consistently avoid overeating!

Choose foods that provide excellent nutrition!

Achieve the right caloric equation to either lose or maintain healthy body weight!

Indulge occasionally without losing control!

Get right back on track after a slight lapse!

Enjoy physical activity!

Choose active forms of entertainment over sedentary activities!

Adhere to a healthy weight management program!

Let your mind (and yourself) go to the beach and feel the sun and sand. Smell the salt air and be the calm, confident person who can achieve and sustain a healthy body weight for life!

Allowing yourself to be open to hypnotism could give you the ability to believe in yourself and your power to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.

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Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.